The water situation in Sweden

Sweden – water basics

Sweden has more than 100 000 lakes

9% of the total area

Public access

Together with Finland we are unique in Europe with

the amount of lakes and fresh water

The abundance of forests makes our water brown and

acidic

Largest lakes

Swedens largest lakes are;

• Vänern

•Vättern

•Mälaren

Vänern

Area: 5650 km², depth 27m

• Europe’s third largest lake

• 800 000 people use this as

their water source

• Healthy and clean lake,

only local problems in some

bays with blooming algee.

Vättern

Area: 1910 km², depth 40m

• 240 000 use it as a water

source

• It’s Europe’s fifth largest

lake

• It has cold water at a

yearly average of 7-8

degrees C

• This has its uses in the

cooling of facilities and

properties.

Mälaren

Area: : 1120 km², depth

only 13m

• Mälaren has a problem

with over fertilization from

the agriculture along its

banks and the sewer water

from cities like Uppsala.

• This causes poisonous

blooming of algae.

•15 % of the population

drink the water from here.

Älvarna

• There are several really

large rivers coming down

from the mountains in

northern Sweden.

• Only three of these are not

exploited by water energy

dams.

• These dams have a negative

impact on the fish and the

things living close to the

shore in or downstream of the

dams because of the large

variations in water level that

are created.

Uppsala drinkingwater

•In Uppsala we take our

drinking water from an

esker, a long winding ridge

of stone and gravel through

which water runs and comes

out naturally filtered and

clean.

• As the population

has grown the water

that naturally runs

through it is not

enough. We now

pump water to the top

of it and use it as it

comes out.

The Baltic sea

•The Baltic Sea is a

brackish sea. It gets fresh

water from rivers in the

north and is therefore the

least salty sea.

Algae

• Nitrogen and phosphor is

let out by all the countries

around the Baltic Sea,

some more than others,

this fuels huge blooming

of algae. These die, sink,

and use up all the oxygen

at the bottom

•Since it is international

water it is very hard to

regulate what is let out,

both nitrogen, phosphorus,

and more directly

poisonous substances.

Many large ships go out to

clean out the oil in their

tanks for example. There

is hope though because a

committee has been set up

and many many projects

work for the health of the

Baltic.